EU freedom of movement rules for migrants need 'further reform', Theresa May says as she refuses to deny leadership ambitions

Immigration rules that allow EU citizens to live and work in Britain need "further reform" beyond David Cameron's EU deal, Theresa May has said.

The Home Secretary, who is backing the Remain campaign, said that freedom of movement rules will need more controls "in the future”.

It came just hours after George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that the Government will not announce any plans to bring in new controls on EU migrants ahead of next week’s referendum.

Her comments came after the Remain campaign attempted to move the EU referendum debate onto the economy.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, has said that the Government has no plans for further controls on the free movement of EU migrantsCredit:
Rick Findler/PA wire

The Chancellor provoked a backlash from Conservative MPs by warning that he will be forced to implement an "emergency Brexit Budget" with £30billion worth of cuts and tax rises for the middle classes.

However Mrs May's intervention refocused the debate on immigration, which the leave campaign believes is key if it is to win the referendum.

The timing of her remarks will also raise questions about her own post-referendum ambitions, with the Home Secretary yesterday refusing to rule out a leadership bid after David Cameron steps down.

Mrs May already has an uneasy relationship with David Cameron and Downing Street and has clashed with them over several major policy areas in recent years.

The Home Secretary, who admitted that people had attempted to persuade her to join the Leave campaign, said she "completely understands" public concern about immigration.

She said: "There are some changes coming up in free movement rules, we should look at further reform in the future."

She added, however, that leaving the EU is not a "silver bullet": "There's no one thing you can do to suddenly deal with all the problems and concerns with immigration and that includes leaving the EU."

The issue of further controls on freedom of movement was raised on Tuesday when senior Labour figures said that the rules would need to be reformed and there were claims that Downing Street was planning an announcement on the issue ahead of the referendum next Thursday.

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Mr Cameron's negotiation with EU leaders has led to Britain being given the use of an 'emergency brake' on migrant's access to in-work benefits for four years.

Yesterday Mr Osborne was asked if the government was considering attempting to negotiate further controls to freedom of movement beyond David Cameron's pledge to curb welfare payments.

He replied: "The short answer is no, because we have a plan and the plan is to restrict the welfare that people get when they come to this country so you don’t get out until you put in.

"That is the plan we will implement, with the agreement of our partners, and it is part of a multi-pronged attack to deal with people’s concerns about immigration, controlling it from outside the EU, dealing with abuses of free movement, also crucially seeing the European economies now growing actually at roughly the same rate as the British economy.”

Mrs May also refused to rule out making a bid for the Conservative leadership once Mr Cameron stands down. Asked whether she would like to succeed Mr Cameron as Prime Minister, she said: "Look David I hope is going to carry on until 2020 there's no vacancy ... as I said there's no vacancy."

A Number 10 source denied that there is any split between Mrs May and Mr Osborne and said: "The Prime Minister has always said the process of reform continues after the 23rd June. Theresa May was right to refer to this as an ongoing process."

Mr Gove and Mr Johnson will today put further pressure on Mr Cameron by directly challenging him to use Britain's veto to stop the accession of Turkey into the EU.

More than 65 Tory MPs signed a letter in which they warned that Mr Osborne's position will become "untenable" if Britain votes to leave the European Union.

They include six eurosceptic former cabinet ministers - Iain Duncan Smith, Liam Fox, Owen Paterson, David Jones, John Redwood and Cheryl Gillan.

Boris Johnson, the former Mayor of London, and Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, also said they will not support the emergency Budget although they did not sign the letter.

Mr Gove accused the Remain campaign of "ramping up the fear" while Mr Johnson said they are "endlessly knocking our country down".

In an article for The Telegraph two former Tory leaders, Lord Howard and Iain Duncan Smith, and two former Tory Chancellors, Lord Lawson and Lord Lamont, accuse Mr Cameron of "ludicrous scaremongering".

They say that the Government and the Bank of England have been "peddling phoney forecasts and scare stories" in a bid to help David Cameron and Mr Osborne. They add that "no responsible Chancellor" would have proposed an emergency post-Brexit Budget.

It came as eleven suspected illegal immigrants were yesterday found in the back of a lorry near London in Romford, Essex. Eight adults, thought to be from Iraq, were arrested and three children were taken into custody.

The immigrants were found after tapping was heard when the lorry driver pulled over and asked for directions. The people inside the lorry were said to be calm and simply said "hello" when the back door of the lorry was opened.

The leave and remain campaigns were involved in clashes on the Thames as Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, led a flotilla of boats to Parliament.

Neil Kinnock and Gordon Brown, the former Labour leaders, will today warn that a vote to leave the European Union risks turning areas of the North into an eighties-style "industrial wasteland".